The video features outtakes from the 2016 Native Youth in Food and Agriculture Leadership Summit

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Nearly 100 Native American, Alaska native and Native Hawaiian students representing 51 tribes met at the University of Arkansas School of Law for a unique 10-day leadership summit to learn how food and agriculture policy impacts their tribal communities. The summit, sponsored and organized by the law school’s Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, is an annual event in its third year.

Applications for the 2017 summit are being accepted now and can be downloaded here.

During the summit, students engaged with a wide variety of guest speakers who presented topics including the history of American Indian Agriculture, business planning, ethnobotany and seed preservation, legal issues in Indian Country and the importance of traditional foods.

The students were also treated to a presentation by Native American celebrity chef Sean Sherman (Lakota Sioux), also known as The Sioux Chef, who has become a leading advocate of preserving traditional foods and restoring an indigenous diet. The final speaker of the summit was Arthur “Butch” Blazer (Mescalero Apache), former U.S. Department of Agriculture deputy undersecretary for natural resources and environment, who spoke about the importance of tribal leadership.

Odessa Oldham (Navajo), founding camp director, said the summit is vitally important to the future of Native agriculture.

“Youth today are three to four generations removed from the land. At the summit we teach the youth the importance of agriculture and how we are connected through our culture. All of our tribes are connected to agriculture, through our ties to the land,” she said. “Our future is bright ­– we just need to believe in our youth and educate them on what agriculture really is.”

Learning extended beyond the classroom through visits to several agriculture operations and food businesses including the Cattle Company and Downstream Casino greenhouses of the Quapaw Nation, a Walmart distribution center, the U of A animal and food science laboratories and the Fayetteville Farmers Market. The summit field trips were capped with a full-day excursion to Daggs Farm in Stratford, Oklahoma, where students helped install irrigation systems and learned about small-scale chicken operations, cultivating ancestral plants and the importance of good nutrition and healthy lifestyles.

Zach Ilbery (Cherokee), one of the summit student leaders who runs a family-owned cattle operation in Checotah, Oklahoma, said he understands the value of the summit experience.

“The hands-on experience goes right along with the classroom work to teach students how to build a business plan from the ground up. The summit taught me that, and I’ve implemented it in my own operation. The summit can help students to start or improve their operation back home.”

The summit is sponsored by the U of A School of Law and Bumpers College, and it is funded by numerous supporting programs including the USDA Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Program, Southern Extension Risk Management Education, Farm Credit, Intertribal Agriculture Council and First Nations Development Institute. Summit students receive an intensive and fun course in agriculture while getting an early glimpse at campus life and study.

“The University of Arkansas has long been recognized nationally as the go-to institution for training the next generation of food and agricultural leaders,” Leeds said. “In keeping with that tradition, the Native Youth in Food and Agriculture Leadership Summit has, in just three years, become a foundational program to launch the educational careers of hundreds of future contributors to agribusiness and tribal sovereignty.”

Planning for next year’s summit is underway. Native students aged 15 to 18 who are Native American, Alaskan Native or Native Hawaiian are encouraged to apply early. Please contact Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative recruitment officer Emerald Hames at ehames@uark.edu or 479-575-5128 for more information.